12 Days of Christmas Covers

This Christmas my friend Kylee had a crazy idea: 12 Days of Christmas Covers. Basically she decided to sing a Christmas song every day for 12 days and post them online. When I heard her idea, I had to piggy back off of it. You can listen to all of Kylee's covers here, and all of mine in the links below.

This project was a lot of fun because I got to experiment a lot with Facebook Live. One of my goals was to make my covers raw and spontaneous rather than professional and produced. I wanted to invite people into my everyday life while also singing a Christmas song. I did covers in my pajamas, at work between meetings, on the floor of my office, and whenever I had the time. Some covers were in the middle of the day, and some were late at night. Each one allowed me to show Facebook friends a small piece of my life.

1st Day: Santa Baby (ft. Kelsie Goodwin)

https://www.facebook.com/klcombs95/videos/10154814878678114/









2nd Day: Christmas in California (by Miller Jarrell)

https://www.facebook.com/klcombs95/videos/10154818160648114/





3rd Day: Jingle Bells (ft. literally everyone)

https://www.facebook.com/klcombs95/videos/10154821931448114/





4th Day: Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer

https://www.facebook.com/klcombs95/videos/10154824391203114/





5th Day: Mistletoe (ft. Kelsie Goodwin and Trace Borrerro)

https://www.facebook.com/klcombs95/videos/10154827158423114/





6th Day: What Child is This (ft. Tevis Godfrey)

https://www.facebook.com/klcombs95/videos/10154832120588114/





7th Day: White Christmas (ft. my cat, Beans)

https://www.facebook.com/klcombs95/videos/10154835750303114/





8th Day: Dominick the Donkey (ft. my dad)

https://www.facebook.com/klcombs95/videos/10154839083978114/





9th Day: I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas

https://www.facebook.com/klcombs95/videos/10154842155923114/





10th Day: Baby It's Cold Outside (ft. Kylee Grimwood and using 3 iPhones)

https://www.facebook.com/klcombs95/videos/10154845457078114/





11th Day: Ba-Humbug Carols from Jingle Jam

https://www.facebook.com/klcombs95/videos/10154849418953114/





12th Day: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

https://www.facebook.com/klcombs95/videos/10154853454653114/

The Prodigal Blog Post

I’ll start by apologizing for missing a whole week of blogging. Usually I blog in the van on the way to our next stop, but I was carsick on our last van ride and then I just kept putting off the task -- but never fear! I’ll catch you up in this Prodigal Blog Post!

RECAP, PART 1: JOY OF LIVING

Last week we were counselors at Joy of Living Camp in Brinkhaven, Ohio. The camp is out in the middle of nowhere with pretty much zero cell service, but oddly enough they have wifi for staff pretty much everywhere. The camp services mostly inner city youth who can’t afford to come to camp. Donors send money that it purposed for scholarships so that kids can come and have a camp experience. The theme for the summer is “The Sweet Life,” which focuses on the fruit of the spirit. We got to work with other counselors at the camp to lead groups of 8-12 year old kids through activities like challenge course, horseback riding, baking, team building, water games, and more.

Since the camp only had jobs for 5 counselors, Kat and Cliff helped out with other jobs. Kat was on program staff, which helped the camp run logistically. Cliff, to whom we will now refer lovingly to as kitchen-boy-man-servant, worked in the kitchen helping Miss Dee prepare all of our meals.

We loved getting to know and invest in the kids there, especially through teaching lessons and leading devotions. We really enjoyed getting to meet the other staff there, too, so much so that we convinced a few of them to come and visit us in Marysville during our break on 4th of July.

PART 2: MARYSVILLE

We arrived Friday evening at our host home and were immediately blown away by their generosity and hospitality. Philip and Sarah took great care of us, let us invade their home (even to the point of having friends over), fed us well, and truly blessed us last weekend.

We spent our break on Saturday exploring downtown Marysville with our newfound friends from Joy of Living. We went to a frozen yogurt place for lunch and an ice cream place for dessert, and then wandered around the area. In the evening a few of us went to the high school to watch the Marysville fireworks show.

Marysville First United Methodist Church hosted a mission trip this week called Transformation Zone, an annual event where middle and high school kids from 10+ local churches come to do mission work for different ministries in the area. We lived in the church and went out to local ministries during the days to work. The kids were split up into 18 work crews of about 10 kids, and each of us (except Conner) was assigned to a work crew.

DSC_0126Christa was with team 14 who went to the Willow Brook nursing home in Delaware, OH. Most of the time, the team volunteered in the memory care unit where the residents with Alzheimers live. They took walks, played games and trivia, made crafts, painted pictures, read stories and talked with the residents. They also played uker and took walks with some of the residents in the assisted living unit. In the afternoons, the team washed wheelchairs.

Brandon was in a work crew that worked with puppets. He had a great group of kids who worked hard and got along well. They did a couple of VBS visits and nursing home visits, where they performed their puppet show. Brandon was surprised at how well received the puppet ministry was.

Micah went to Willowbrook Nursing Home in Dublin, OH, to visit with residents. They played Bingo and cards, set up a jewelry show for the ladies, and got to hear a lot of good stories from a lot of wise people. To the crew’s surprise, the residents at Willowbrook were just as interested in hearing the team’s stories as the team was to hear theirs.

[wpvideo BuAhTc6g]Ariane and Cliff went to the Furniture Bank of central Ohio. They painted and built different furniture pieces for individuals who were stable enough to begin to move into a home or apartment. The furniture bank never failed to have a job and enough for everyone to do. Ariane ended up really enjoying the work and Cliff got the satisfaction of working with power tools. It was a great experience making things that would really help families in need.

DSC_0165Kat went out to a barn in the middle of nowhere to build bed frames for Bed Brigade, a ministry that takes beds to kids who’ve never had one. The beds were made completely from one piece of plywood and delivered with a mattress, bedding, and a Bible. Kat’s work crew was full of awesome kids who worked really well together, growing closer as the week went on and truly showing Jesus’ love to each other throughout the week. On Friday their crew went to deliver some beds to homes, which was humbling and beautiful.

Conner was not assigned to a work group at Transformation Zone, so he took pictures or filled in with groups whenever a spot opened up. Tuesday he laid mulch, cleaned bathrooms, and played basketball with some kids. He usually lost. Wednesday he helped build kids' bikes, a strange experience since many of the bikes had parts missing or defective.

At the end of each day of work, everyone met back at the church for showers and downtime. We ate dinner together in the church, and our team led worship for the evening services. The middle and high school kids were very expressive in their worship, and every night was incredibly fueling for us as a team. Guest speakers came each night to share and teach on the theme for the week, being Christ’s ambassadors, and the church and a local radio station even hosted a concert on Wednesday! Overall we had a great week.

LOOKING AHEAD

Now we are headed to Collins, OH, to help with a VBS. Here are ways you can pray for us this week:

  • Pray for endurance as we head into the home stretch of our tour. We only have two location left - Collins and Hollow Rock - before we head back to Asbury and disperse until school starts again. While it’s easy to feel the effects of our tiredness and start preparing to be done, we pray that we would push through and finish well, giving our all for the next two and a half weeks.
  • Continue to pray that our ministry is received well by others and that we are effective ambassadors for Christ.

2 CORINTHIANS 5:20

We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.

Picture: The entire group gathers for a photo at Transformation Zone.

Departing toward Dayton

Recap

We left Steubenville on Thursday about 2 hours later than we had planned (we always leave later than we plan) and stayed the night on campus before getting Cliff at his house in Wilmore and heading back to First Alliance in Louisville. We showed up Friday afternoon and set up our sound system for their youth group service, where we played a few songs and Micah shared his testimony, which was pretty well received by the room full of teenage boys.

Last week when we were at First Alliance we were invited to the Bar Mitzvah of one of the boys, so we attended as a team Saturday morning. The service was Messianic Jewish, and it was really beautiful. We really enjoyed the traditional Jewish music, the Hebrew liturgy and scripture readings, and the privilege of seeing into another culture. After attending, we all felt really honored that Isaiah had invited us and that he wanted to share that part of his life with us.

We spent most of Saturday evening practicing -- it's great to have Cliff back! -- and learning a couple of new songs for Sunday morning service. This morning we led worship and shared testimonies from Micah, Ariane, and Kat. The service overall went really well, and we especially enjoyed getting to talk with members of the congregation afterward.

Prayer Requests

Now we are on our way to Belmont Church in Dayton, OH, to help with their VBS this week. Here are ways you can pray for us:

  • Pray for supernatural endurance for the team. We are all starting to feel the effects of this summer, so pray that we can keep pushing through and going strong.
  • Pray that no matter what we are faced with, our team would have such deep unity and Christ-like love that the tasks wouldn't matter.
  • Pray that we would be received well by the people of Belmont Church and that the Holy Spirit would speak through us.

Thanks for your support! 

Picture: Bardstown Road mural 

Au Revoir, Steubenville

After spending the week in Steubenville, OH, we're on our way back to Wilmore to get Cliff (finally!) and then we're heading back to First Alliance to lead worship Friday evening and Sunday morning. To follow the usual format, here's the recap of our last week and pray requests for the next venue.

Recap

We led worship for a youth revival at Finley. We stayed in host homes, hung out with the youth, and played 6 services throughout the week.

When we arrived in Steubenville after some difficulty (Brandon's GPS was right, ours were not. Let's not talk about it.), we hit the ground running. We met with Tom and Ryan, who helped us set up our instruments and their sound system in the church, and we started practicing for Sunday morning. After a long night of practicing, we headed out to our host homes to get some rest.

The guys stayed with Ms. Paula who constantly put our boys in a food coma and spoiled them mercilessly. The girls stayed with the Keyser family whose hospitality manifested in good food, amazing conversation, and taking a day off to make time to hang out with us.

We got to hang out with the church's youth group and do service projects Monday and Wednesday afternoons. On Monday we set up a grill and hotdog bar outside the church on the street and served lunch to people passing by. With the meals we handed out business cards for the church, and we got to have some pretty meaningful conversations with people who stopped to get food. On Wednesday we went to the Urban Mission food pantry to help out with some odd jobs. We had been told there was a lot to get done, but by the time the 15 of us got to work, we knocked out all the work and then some in about an hour. We enjoyed getting to serve the community and to work with Finley's youth group.

The evening services were up at Finley's ministry center, which is a church building that was given to Finley that they have converted into the world's coolest youth group building -- the pews were removed and replaced with a random assortment of couches, foosball and pool tables, and that basketball arcade thing you had in your basement when you were little. We played music for the services and then hung out with the kids afterward eating food, playing the world's worst game of volleyball, teaching foursquare on an awkwardly large court, and discussing the proper way to make s'mores (Gabe prefers his marshmallows burnt to a crisp while Brandon and Kat prefer a nice golden brown color).

Over the course of the week we had a few directional difficulties including but not limited to finding a giant giraffe on the side of the road (picture below). There was also a turtle killed in the making of our week, and a 40-minute moment of silence held in his honor.

We especially enjoyed getting to know the people at Finley like Tom, who organized our whole stay and took great care of us while we were there, and Gabe and Harper, the pastor's kids who just clicked really well with our group. We also got to meet a lot of people we'll get to see again at Hollow Rock like Rachel and Abby.

Speaking of Hollow Rock, we're discovering more and more that this whole SMT thing is an existing universe outside of Asbury. Joining this team was stepping into something so much bigger than just the 7 of us touring the country, and it's been really awesome diving deeper into that world.

Prayer Requests

As we go into this weekend, please pray for the following:

  • Pray that Cliff transitions well from Malawi to our team, and that we make his transition as smooth as we possibly can. Also pray that musically we would get back into the swing of being a full band. Since the summer began we've been playing acoustic sets with Conner on cajon (the box drum), so it will be nice to have Cliff playing a full drum set and Conner back on his tertiary instrument of bass (his primary and secondary are guitar and vocals, so he's a little out of his comfort zone in general this summer). Our dynamic will be totally different when Cliff joins us, both socially and musically, and we're all really excited for the change.
  • Pray that we would minister well to the youth at First Alliance on Friday night and to the congregation on Sunday morning, especially that the Holy Spirit would speak through us in all we do and that we wouldn't get in the way of what Jesus wants to do this weekend.

Thank you for your support!

Picture: The Giant Giraffe that signals "You've gone the wrong way."

Farewell Louisville (for now)

Recap

We spent the last week at First Alliance Church/International Christian Center on Bardstown Road in Louisville, KY, running a VBS for neighborhood kids. Here is an abbreviated recap of the week's events:

  • Our first night and the next day were dedicated entirely to decorating. Our theme for the week was To the Edge: Encounter the God of the Universe, so we decked out the basement of the church in space-themed decor. When you walked in the door, you were in outer space. Brandon had the brilliant idea to cover the walls in black trash bags to give it a night sky effect, and we hung stars and styrofoam "planets" from the ceilings throughout the hallway. We worked without pause from breakfast Monday morning at 9am to 6pm when the kids arrived that evening putting up stars and planets and glow sticks and everything we could think of to make that basement feel like outer space.
  • The kids were mostly from Nepal, with some from various countries in Africa, some from Latin America, and one or two white kids -- needless to say, we were the minority! We had about 25-40 kids each night and split them into 3 groups by age: Conner took the littles (4-6), Micah took the middles (7-9), and Brandon took the bigs (10-12). The groups started in a bigger room where Micah led music and Ariane led memory verses, and then we split up and rotated through our stations. Christa was in charge of teaching the story, which was taken from a different Bible passage each night. Ariane led the kids in games, which usually wore the leaders out more than the kids. Kat came up with a different craft each night and led the groups through each one. At the end of each night we met again for music and memory verses and then sent the kids home.

  • Most of these kids are bi- and trilingual, and English is their second language. When there were kids who did't know English very well, the others were always very eager to help out. By the end of the week, we were all really attached to our kids, and we finally knew their names, no matter how unpronounceable they were to us.
  • One of the guys who helped out with the VBS was Austin, who was about our age and had an amazing testimony. He really clicked with our team and stuck around for dinner and showings of Veggie Tales on VHS each night.
  • We slept in classrooms in the church, so we were in that basement pretty much all the time. The funny thing about basements is that you lose all sense of space and time; we woke up at 11am feeling like it was 4 in the morning, we didn't eat lunch until 2:30 or 3, and dinner didn't even hit the stove until the kids left around 8:30 each night. Our internal clocks are completely messed up.
  • The guys worked on some odd jobs around the church like trimming trees and fixing cabinets throughout the days while the girls prepared the curriculum/games/crafts for the evening and set out food for meals -- and may I just say that we are very proud of our guys for their successful use of a chainsaw!
  • Since our boys were in dire need of haircuts, we dedicated all of Tuesday afternoon to clippers and sheers; our men are now neatly trimmed and presentable.
  • We cooked all of our meals this week, which was a bonding experience in and of itself. Here's our week's dinner menu; parents, be proud.
  • Monday: Spaghetti with meat sauce
  • Tuesday: Chicken and rice with mushroom sauce and green beans
  • Wednesday: Taco Salad
  • Thursday: Chicken and Shrimp Fettuccine in Alfredo Sauce
  • Friday: Chicken Parmesan (breaded and fried chicken breast over spaghetti noodles with marinara sauce and mozzarella and parmesan cheeses) and Broccoli
  •  We detoured through Lexington today to go to a wedding and got to catch up with some friends in the process. Be sure to check out the Circle of Hope Facebook page for updates on Cliff and his team in Malawi. They're doing awesome ministry there, and we're super excited for what Jesus is doing in and through them.
  •  

    Prayer for the Upcoming Week

    We're headed to Steubenville, OH, now to lead worship at a total of 6 services in the next 4 days for a youth revival. We are very excited, but also very nervous! Here's how you can pray for our team and our ministry in the upcoming week:

    • Since we were leading a VBS all week, most of us haven't even touched our instruments since our training week back on campus... and we're leading 3 worship services tomorrow! Pray that we would quickly and easily get back into the groove of being a worship band.
    • Continue to pray for Cliff and his team for their last few days in Malawi. The team comes home Tuesday and Cliff rejoins our team Friday. Pray for a smooth transition for everyone.
    • Pray that we would reach people well for Christ this week, and that our team would be as effective as we possibly can in love and unity.

    As always, thanks so much for your prayers and support!

    Picture: The gang poses for a group photo on the last day of VBS.

    PA to KY

    We are on our way back to Asbury after our ministry weekend at Rhodes Grove camp. We had such a great time this weekend! First things first: the food was phenomenal. We were compelled to kiss the cook after every meal. We have never been so impressed by camp food.

    The camp was a family camp, which we had never heard of. Families came and stayed in cabins and came to chapel services twice a day where we led worship before the message. Through the weekend there were a ton of cool activities for the families like game tournaments, canoeing, swimming, ziplining, hiking, and so much more.

    While worship was very much in our comfort zone, facilitating the game tournaments was a little more challenging. We split off into pairs and led tournaments for cornhole, carpet ball, fooseball, ping pong, horseshoes, and air hockey. By the second day we had gotten into the swing of things and realized we actually can do more than lead worship.

    Overall it was a good start to our summer. The camp and the experience was very comfortable, and we felt welcome and appreciated.

    Here are some things to pray for as we return to Asbury for the week:

    • As we go into training week, pray that we would have supernatural unity as a team.
    • We will be taking some form of a driving test with a 15-passenger van pulling a trailer. Please pray for safety for everyone involved.
    • Pray that we as a band will be received well when we go to churches and camps.
    • Pray for technology mercies as we get accustomed to our new  sound system, that we would know how to set up, use, and troubleshoot the equipment.
    • Continue to pray for Cliff and his team as they minister to the people of Malawi, Africa. Also pray that his transition from that team to ours goes as smoothly as possible when he returns June 9.

    Thank you for your prayer. We are all so grateful for God's provision so far and we are expectant that He will continue to provide.

    Photo: Scenic overlook in Maryland

    On the Road

    Sojourn is on the road! Today we're headed on an 8-hour journey to Chambersburg, PA, to lead worship at a church retreat.  A few quick updates: we successfully crammed all of our stuff into the van this morning, we have decided we need a GoPro to document our trip, and we pulled over for a pit stop before even getting out of Lexington. Sojourn is off to a great start! 

    Here are a few ways to pray for us today: 

    • Pray for safe travels. We already had the tire pressure light come on, and although watching Micah and Brandon figure out how to fix it was entertaining (I'm pretty sure the owner's manual had "dance the Macarena" listed as a necessary step to reset the dashboard light), we'd prefer not to have any more dashboard lights come on, minor or otherwise.  
    • Pray for team unity for us. This weekend will be great for us as a team to grow closer and figure out how to better work together. 
    • Pray for Cliff and his team in Malawi as they minister there. While it's hard not having Cliff with us, we're thrilled for what he's doing in Africa in these next few weeks. He will rejoin our team June 12. 

    We will lead worship at a church in Pennsylvania about 4 times, including a Sunday morning service and a 1-hour worship night, all acoustic since we don't have our drummer. We're very excited to get started!

    Thank you for your prayers and support! We'll keep updating as often as we can. 

    Picture: nap time in the van circa 10:30am, a mere hour and a half into the trip.